Motor vehicle drive axles for front wheel drive and rear wheel drive typically include a housing having a gear chamber for a differential gear set of the drive axle. Tiny steel particles dislodged from the meshing gears of the differential gear set during normal operation become entrained in the lubricating fluid circulating in the gear chamber. To maximize the durability of the differential, magnets for capturing the dislodged particles have been mounted on fill/drain plugs in the drive axle housing, which plugs may or may not be located for maximum particle collection. Alternatively, magnets have been glued or otherwise adhesively affixed to a side of the gear chamber. Such adhesively affixed magnets may be prone to dislodgement and the adhesives may be difficult to handle and apply. A magnetic particle separator according to this invention is an improvement over the aforesaid plug and adhesive mount magnetic particle separators.